National Child Labour Project

Initiatives towards Elimination of Child Labour – Action Plan and Present Strategy

The problem of child labour continues to pose a challenge before the nation. Government has been taking various pro-active measures to tackle this problem. However, considering the magnitude and extent of the problem and that it is essentially a socio-economic problem inextricably linked to poverty and illiteracy, it requires concerted efforts from all sections of the society to make a dent in the problem.
Way back in 1979, Government formed the first committee called Gurupadswamy Committee to study the issue of child labour and to suggest measures to tackle it. The Committee examined the problem in detail and made some far-reaching recommendations. It observed that as long as poverty continued, it would be difficult to totally eliminate child labour and hence, any attempt to abolish it through legal recourse would not be a practical proposition. The Committee felt that in the circumstances, the only alternative left was to ban child labour in hazardous areas and to regulate and ameliorate the conditions of work in other areas. It recommended that a multiple policy approach was required in dealing with the problems of working children.
Based on the recommendations of Gurupadaswamy Committee, the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act was enacted in 1986. The Act prohibits employment of children in certain specified hazardous occupations and processes and regulates the working conditions in others.

The list of hazardous occupations and processes is progressively being expanded on the recommendation of Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee constituted under the Act.
In consonance with the above approach, a National Policy on Child Labour was formulated in 1987. The Policy seeks to adopt a gradual & sequential approach with a focus on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations & processes in the first instance. The Action Plan outlined in the Policy for tackling this problem is as follows:
Legislative Action Plan for strict enforcement of Child Labour Act and other labour laws to ensure that children are not employed in hazardous employments, and that the working conditions of children working in non-hazardous areas are regulated in accordance with the provisions of the Child Labour Act. It also entails further identification of additional occupations and processes, which are detrimental to the health and safety of the children.
Focusing of General Developmental Programmes for Benefiting Child Labour - As poverty is the root cause of child labour, the action plan emphasizes the need to cover these children and their families also under various poverty alleviation and employment generation schemes of the Government.
Project Based Plan of Action envisages starting of projects in areas of high concentration of child labour. Pursuant to this, in 1988, the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme was launched in 9 districts of high child labour endemicity in the country. The Scheme envisages running of special schools for child labour withdrawn from work. In the special schools, these children are provided formal/non-formal education along with vocational training, a stipend of Rs.100 per month, supplementary nutrition and regular health check ups so as to prepare them to join regular mainstream schools. Under the Scheme, funds are given to the District Collectors for running special schools for child labour. Most of these schools are run by the NGOs in the district.
Government has accordingly been taking proactive steps to tackle this problem through strict enforcement of legislative provisions along with simultaneous rehabilitative measures. State Governments, which are the appropriate implementing authorities, have been conducting regular inspections and raids to detect cases of violations. Since poverty is the root cause of this problem, and enforcement alone cannot help solve it, Government has been laying a lot of emphasis on the rehabilitation of these children and on improving the economic conditions of their families.
The coverage of the NCLP Scheme has increased from 12 districts in 1988 to 100 districts in the 9th Plan to 250 districts during the 10th Plan.
Strategy for the elimination of child labour under the 10th Plan
An evaluation of the Scheme was carried out by independent agencies in coordination with V. V. Giri National Labour Institute in 2001. Based on the recommendations of the evaluation and experience of implementing the scheme since 1988, the strategy for implementing the scheme during the 10th Plan was devised. It aimed at greater convergence with the other developmental schemes and bringing qualitative changes in the Scheme. Some of the salient points of the 10th Plan Strategy are as follows:
Focused and reinforced action to eliminate child labour in the hazardous occupations by the end of the Plan period.
Expansion of National Child Labour Projects to additional 150 districts.
Linking the child labour elimination efforts with the Scheme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan of Ministry of Human Resource Development to ensure that children in the age group of 5-8 years get directly admitted to regular schools and that the older working children are mainstreamed to the formal education system through special schools functioning under the NCLP Scheme.
Convergence with other Schemes of the Departments of Education, Rural Development, Health and Women and Child Development for the ultimate attainment of the objective in a time bound manner.
The Government and the Ministry of Labour & Employment in particular, are rather serious in their efforts to fight and succeed in this direction. The number of districts covered under the NCLP Scheme has been increased from 100 to 250, as mentioned above in this note. In addition, 21 districts have been covered under INDUS, a similar Scheme for rehabilitation of child labour in cooperation with US Department of Labour. Implementation of this Project was recently reviewed during the visit of Mr. Steven Law, Deputy Secretary of State, from the USA. For the Districts not covered under these two Schemes, Government is also providing funds directly to the NGOs under the Ministry’s Grants-in-aid Scheme for running Special Schools for rehabilitation of child labour, thereby providing for a greater role and cooperation of the civil society in combating this menace.
Elimination of child labour is the single largest programme in this Ministry’s activities. Apart from a major increase in the number of districts covered under the scheme, the priority of the Government in this direction is evident in the quantum jump in budgetary allocation during the 10th Plan. Government has allocated Rs. 602 crores for the Scheme during the 10th Plan, as against an expenditure of Rs. 178 crores in the 9th Plan. The resources set aside for combating this evil in the Ministry is around 50 per cent of its total annual budget.
The implementation of NCLP and INDUS Schemes is being closely monitored through periodical reports, frequent visits and meetings with the District and State Government officials. The Government’s commitment to achieve tangible results in this direction in a time bound manner is also evident from the fact that in the recent Regional Level Conferences of District Collectors held in Hyderabad, Pune, Mussoorie and Kolkata district-wise review of the Scheme was conducted at the level of Secretary. These Conferences provided an excellent opportunity to have one-to-one interaction with the Collectors, who play a pivotal role in the implementation of these Schemes in the District. Besides, these Conferences also helped in a big way in early operationalisation of Scheme in the newly selected 150 districts.
The Government is committed to eliminate child labour in all its forms and is moving in this direction in a targeted manner. The multipronged strategy being followed by the Government to achieve this objective also found its echo during the recent discussions held in the Parliament on the Private Member’s Bill tabled by Shri Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi. It was unanimously recognized therein that the problem of child labour, being inextricably linked with poverty and illiteracy, cannot be solved by legislation alone, and that a holistic, multipronged and concerted effort to tackle this problem will bring in the desired results.

Dhoni Captains The World - When Will An Indian Leader Do That?

Recently, Wisden, The Book of Cricket, introduced its Inaugural Wisden XI, their Cricket Team of the world's best 11 players. Their aim is to "recognise the best Test cricketers of the calendar year, and to endorse Test cricket as the highest, most skilled, form of the game, the least subject to the intrusion of time."

According to Wisden, the criteria for selection are simple: the best eleven to play a Test match, no matter the opposition, guided by performances in 2008, and taking into consideration the amount of Test cricket they played in the year, the quality of their opponents, and that indefinable blend of class and form.

We were delighted to see that the Indian Captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was chosen by Wisden to be the Captain of Wisden XI. Besides Dhoni, four other Indian Cricketers were selected, including the great Sachin Tendulkar, recognized by many to be the Greatest Cricketer ever, even eclipsing the legendary Don Bradman of Australia.
Behind India's five, the team included two players each from Australia & South Africa and one player each from England & West Indies. (see content.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/398701.html)
Ian Bishop, the former West Indies great bowler, chose Dhoni as Captain because "his charisma, which seems to permeate the Indian dressing-room and bring the best out of his team". We could not agree more.

The Indian Cricket Team was a superb collection of players well before Dhoni became its Captain. But, the Indian Team was regarded as a soft and brittle team which succumbed when challenged by the aggressive, sometimes bullying Australian Team. We recall an Australian writer telling an Indian commentator (in www.bbc.com) that the"Indian players were good, middle class boys whereas the Australians were a team of "goondas" or a thuggish group of nasties".

Dhoni changed the character of the Indian team. Under his leadership, the Indian Team became the aggressor with players like Harbhajan Singh (another selection in the Wisden XI) getting penalized for being too aggressive and trash talking. The "new" Indian team defeated Australia in their first series under Dhoni's leadership. We recall an article about this series in bbc.com that remarked that "the Indian Team played like Australia and the Australian Team played like India".

This was due to Dhoni. Under his leadership, the Indian Team changed from being a brilliant but brittle team to a mentally tough, indomitable team which found ways to convert potential defeats into victories. It is because of these mental qualities that the Indian Team, captained by Dhoni, recently won its first ever series against New Zealand in New Zealand.

Wisden chose India's opening batsman, Virender Sehwag as Wisden's Leading Cricketer in the World, 2008, a singular honor. We love Sehwag's selection but what matters more to us is the main reason for his selection. What was this reason?
Wisden said "Sehwag did so by taking the task of opening Test innings to a new level. He sought, and often achieved, mental domination (emphasis ours) from the first ball by scoring faster than any other opening batsman has ever done on a regular basis in Test cricket: 85 runs per 100 balls in the calendar year, without any soft opponents; Sehwag also scored at 120 per 100 balls in one-day internationals." (see content.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/398689.html ).
Wow! An Indian Batsman described as having "sought and often achieved mental domination". This is a dream come true for life long fans like us.

In this blog, we have bemoaned the fact that India's leaders have made India a soft country, a country that is forever praised (in a left handed way) for its "tolerance" and is feared by no one. This is why, we believe, India is always attacked and bullied by terrorist groups in India's neighborhood and India is always taken for granted on the world stage.
When will a leader emerge in India like Mahendra Singh Dhoni who can change India's attitude, its spirit and add mental toughness to the other great qualities & successes of India? We await that day. Until then, we are willing to support a "Dhoni For Prime Minister" campaign.
Editor's Note: The batting order for the Wisden XI is Virender Sehwag (India), Graeme Smith (South Africa), Ricky Ponting (Australia), Sachin Tendulkar (India), Kevin Pietersen (England), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India), Harbhajan Singh (India), Mitchell Johnson (Australia), Dale Steyn (South Africa) and Zaheer Khan (India).